Council’s decision could prove costly

COUNCILLORS reversed a planning decision fearing the threat of legal action ... only to find themselves facing another court action for doing so.

A move agreed in January to open the doors for small housing developments at several locations in Nithsdale was scrapped at a meeting on Tuesday after officials admitted it had “defects”.

Those mainly centred on one site at Castlehill, Terregles, which a planning expert found to be “unsuitable” for development.

But councillors went against that recommendation and decided it was a “suitable” location under their Small Buildings Group plans.

That prompted a report to Tuesday’s planning committee which was told that solicitors acting on behalf of eight properties at Castlehill were moving to have a judicial review of the decision to have it revoked.

They claimed “no proper reason” had been given for deeming the site “suitable” which they said went against the council’s own planning policy.

After a vote, councillors changed their original decision fearing a costly and lengthy judicial review which would see a court examine their decision-making process.

However, it’s understood that the Nithsdale Small Buildings Group Steering Group, set up by proprietors of land under the scheme, are now set to take legal action against the council to recover costs in preparing their plans for the sites.

However, Tom Sturgeon, the council’s principal solicitor, told Tuesday’s committee that the authority would be able to defend that court action “on the grounds that the expenditure of money and the carrying out of work by those proprietors cannot cure a fundamental defect in the decision, and that the proprietors were premature in relying on the decision” as there were still environmental issues outstanding.

At the committee, Labour councillors moved to have the council stick to its original January decision and defend any judicial review.